PayPal is a good idea. Really, it is. I like PayPal, and so I didn't hesitate to specify it as my payment preference at RentACoder. I trust PayPal to hold the money, and to release it if I want to buy books on Amazon with it, or something. It's like an online bank.
I had no problem receiving funds to PayPal before, but in the past couple of days - when RAC sent me my first payment ($98), PayPal suddenly doesn't allow me to accept the payment without specifying a US bank account. US bank account ? Are you nuts, PayPal - isn't this what you exist for, NOT TO have a bank account and still receive funds from all over the world ? I understand that to send funds you need a credit card, but why do you need anything to receive them ? I sent them a couple of Help requests but got no response.
Fortunately, it appears like a technical problem at PayPal - and a Google search ("paypal problem receiving funds us bank account") shows that many started suffering from it suddenly about a week ago. PayPal disappoint me here - first, they can't fix a critical technical problem for over a week. Second, they didn't reply to my Help requests, which is unacceptable.